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higher velocities than <is> recommended

grammar-in-use

Senior Member
Chinese
Hello everyone,

We take our hail-impact testing to even higher velocities than is recommended in a lot of the standards and testing procedures. (Source: https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/aptera-motors-solar-powered-electric-vehicles-6ec1095f)

As I see it, the underlined comparative structure can be understood as either
a. ... higher velocities than [it] is recommended... [that we take our hail-impact testing to]
or
a'. ... higher velocities than [however high a velocity] is recommended...
or
b. ... higher velocities than [the velocities that] are recommended...

So, can we use "are", instead of the original "is", after "than"? What is the (intended) subject of the singular verb "is"? Is it as shown in a./a'.?

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We take our hail-impact testing to even higher velocities than is recommended in a lot of the standards and testing procedures.
First off, I think that 'recommended' is not a good word choice here. It makes the sentence sound as if the company were doing something wrong by not following the recommendations made by those standards. What they really want to say is that by testing at, for example, twice the specified speed, they are proving that their product is twice as good as required by that standard.
I'd have phrased it as "...to even higher velocities than is required by (or: is specified in) a lot of standards..."

I agree with Jektor that singular is sounds good. For some reason '...to even higher velocities than are recommended...' sounds off. Maybe this comes from the fact that the recommendation for each test comes from one specific standard and test procedure. I'm not sure.
Thank you all for your great comments.

It implies that a single velocity is recommended
"...to even higher velocities than is required by (or: is specified in) a lot of standards..."
Higher velocities than the velocity that is recommended...
Does this mean that "higher velocities than are recommended" would not make as much sense?

Could the than-clause "than is recommended..." be understood the following way (though it may be a bit convoluted)?
a. ... higher velocities than [it] is recommended... [that we take our hail-impact testing to]
What is the (intended) subject of the singular verb "is"? Is it as shown in a./a'.?
The highest recommended velocity.

In English, the strong default assumption is that the sentence is correct
The second default assumption is that the verb and subject agree in number.

In "higher velocities than is recommended", the first action is to assume it is correct and then find a singular subject:

"is recommended" is a reduced passive relative "higher velocities than that [highest recommended velocity] which is recommended [by the manufacturer]"
For me, b cannot fit because is does not mean "are".

In fact, a (not a') is closest to what I imagine is meant. From this sentence, I gather that there is a range of velocities recommended for each testing procedure, not one maximum for all or even one maximum for each.

However, I am sure the recommendations in question are not specific to "we" (Aptera).
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